In transferring casts to a dental articulator it is necessary to use a transfer face bow to establish an identifiable three-dimensional relationship to the head of the patient. The transfer face bow conventionally includes a pair of pointers which engage respective lateral sides of the patient's head, each pointer being adjusted in its final position so that its pointed end bears upon a small tattoo mark which indicates the location of the terminal hinge axis. In conventional transfer face bows, however, when the pointers have reached their final positions of adjustment they are not collinear with each other. Therefore, in aligning the transfer face bow with the articulator, any change or adjustment in the lateral separation of the pointers which represents the face width of the patient would result in a measurement error.
Accordingly, the articulator is provided with adjustable means for enlarging or diminishing its simulated face width, so that it may be aligned with the transfer face bow without having to adjust the pointers of the face bow. The present invention provides such an adjustment mechanism, which differs in its specific details from the comparable mechanisms of the prior art.
Thus, the object and purpose of the present invention is to provide a specific mechanism for aligning a transfer face bow to an articulator, which operates in a different manner from the prior art devices used for this purpose.